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Sliding Panel/Pocket Doors
Sliding and pocket doors are especially well suited to the general Utilihab design scheme as they can be accommodated with panels approximating the standard flush wall panel sizes and using most of the same materials. Many off-the-shelf window profile and hardware systems accommodate sliding window panel doors and can be readily retrofit to the standard Utilihab Primary framing. These can serve well for exterior entry doors. As previously described, the simplest of sliding doors is the sliding wall panel like the shoji and fusuma panels. Based on relatively light materials, these employ no special hardware and pop-in directly into profile slots with the addition of wear strips for a flush door sill and a smoother glide. However, heavier and more frequently used doors require some type of guide and rolling hardware as well as latch mechanisms to make them easier to move and securely closed. The common mechanisms use a specialized channel profile which is mounted along the lintel of the doorway and from which the door panel is suspended on two or more roller bearing trucks. A guide at the corner of the doorway sill where the door panel overlaps stationary panels helps keep the door panel from swinging as it rolls. Some T-slot profile lines offer a ready-made sliding door profile and truck sets to integrate directly to profiles but, in most cases, off-the-shelf sliding/pocket door components can also work because they can usually attach to the profile framing in exactly the same way as they do to wood frame structure -just with the substitution of T-nuts. An added hollow profile or wooden plate may be used at the door stop to accommodate latch hardware and provide a mounting groove for polymer stop strips. This is usually matched in finish to cover plates that conceal the door track profile under the lintel and to sill plates, which are designed to be flush to the basic floor surface and may also feature a groove and in-slot gasket as a draft barrier. Door materials can be of most any material and can employ an aluminum profile frame. Sliding doors can be fashioned for all basic framing sizes but pocket doors require space for two stationary outer wall panels for the door panel to slide between and so are generally limited to use over Primary framing of Medium duty 150mm profiles or greater. Folding sliding doors a variation of sliding doors that allow for a removable partition spanning relatively large areas but which fold up into a relatively small volume at the sides of a room. They are particularly useful for large closets and room dividers. They operate similarly to pocket doors except that swiveling pins, both top and bottom, guide the door panels which are attached by hinges allowing them to fold out of the line of the door sill and lintel as they are moved, stacking against each other. Again, both the standard product lines of some T-slot manufacturers as well conventional hardware suppliers offer products that will integrate with the profile framing and most any door material can be used. These will also suit the narrow dimensions of Secondary floor framing along main floor joists. (which have a continuous top surface slot)